This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
A number of electric pumps have been disclosed combining an electric motor and a gerotor pump. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,156,623 describes an electric motor and a gerotor pump that are usable separately or in combination with one another. While this concept may provide a pumping function, redundancies exist, possibly negatively effecting the cost, size and weight of the fluid pump.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 7,314,352 describes a pump having an integrated electric motor. The electric motor includes a stator having a core with a plurality of ring-shaped steel plates and a wire coil wound about the core. The plates and coil are encapsulated within a block of resin. Unfortunately, the resin spaces the stator apart from permanent magnets of the motor armature a distance greater than desired. Motor efficiency decreases as the distance between the stator and armature increases. Furthermore, use of the resin increases the challenge of controlling the end face clearances of the rotating components due to the difficulty of machining the resin. Accordingly, a need in the art exists for an improved fully submersible integrated electric oil pump.